Wolf's Hunger (Mafia Monsters #5) - Atlas Rose Page 0,38

“Wolves attacking Wolves. You’re going to get yourself killed out here.”

“Which is why we’re moving her to some place safer,” Phantom said as he strode in. “As soon as it gets dark.”

“Where the hell is safer from a pack of Wolves?” Walker exclaimed.

But Phantom just kept walking. “Grab anything you don’t want left behind, Carina,” he directed with a wave of his hand. “Alcohol, as well.”

I left my best friend’s side to stride after him into the room. Ice cold water trickled down through the cracks in the mountain and raced away through more cracks in the stone floor. I glanced at the spot where Phantom and I had kissed and washed each other only hours before. It felt like days, not hours. We’d barely gotten here and now we were leaving again. “Where are we going, Phantom?”

He grabbed as many clothes as he could, not meeting my gaze. “Somewhere with more protection. Somewhere safer than here.”

“I saw the news broadcast, saw Harlan. Why didn’t you tell me it was getting this bad?”

He glanced my way, and there was sorrow in his eyes. “I wanted to protect you.”

I closed the distance between us, grasped his hands, and turned him toward me. “You don’t have to shield me from this, any of it.”

“What do you want me to say here, Carina? That I’m scared? That I’m fucking terrified of what’s going to happen next?” He gave a soft snort. “I have Wolves that can protect us, but not here. So I have to get you someplace else, then I can think…then I can try to figure out what the next step is. Finis is out there, and he’ll come back, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow. But he is coming, and the next time…the next time, we may not be as lucky.”

“What the fuck does he want with us?”

That haunted look moved deeper in his eyes. “Me,” he answered. “He wants me, begging and hurting, knowing my place as the Alpha of Crown City and no more.”

“Jealousy?” I exclaimed. “He’s hurting you out of sheer jealousy?”

Phantom swallowed hard and looked away. I saw it then, saw how someone like Phantom could be dangerous to an Alpha like Finis. Break the competition. Make them weak…make them vulnerable. Make them broken.

The words resounded inside me. “Whenever you’re ready, we’ll leave,” I assured him.

But inside I was trembling with rage…and that dark voice whispered…no one hurts what’s mine.

11

We waited until dark. Church, Vitold, and Arran stayed outside until the last moment, while Phantom divided his time between the forest, the cavern…and me.

“It’s time,” he announced as the sun sank below the horizon.

“We’ll need to make two trips,” Mojin decided. “Carina, Doc here, Wry, and one more. I’ll come back for the rest of you.”

Phantom just gave a nod and looked at me. “I’ll go with you. The rest will wait behind.”

My heart squeezed with the words. Wait behind.

Thud! Wry punched his own chest. His eyes slammed shut. His skin was so pale in the dim light, he was like a ghost.

“Carina, you and the doc get in the car,” Phantom commanded, not taking his eyes from the young Wolf. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Mojin strode toward the opening of the cavern and I turned to follow. But Walker didn’t move. Instead, she muttered, “You go, Chase. I’m good here.”

There was a gleam in her eye when she watched the frightened young Wolf. The savior complex was burning bright in her, and it had ever since she’d arrived here with the broken male. She licked her lips and took a step closer to Wry. “You know, I have a sister who’s deaf.”

The harsh, rasping breaths from Wry stopped for a heartbeat, and that was all Walker needed to get an in. She turned toward Phantom and murmured, “It’s alright, fluff-ball. I got this.”

“Fluff-ball?” the Alpha repeated, his brows rising before he scowled.

But it was Wry who aimed his focus her way, fixing her with a hesitantly interested gaze.

She just gave a shrug and continued, turning her attention to her patient, and I was reminded of why Walker was one of the fast-rising doctors in the Crown City Hospital Emergency Department. She was demanding, a perfectionist in all things that mattered…and she cared.

Like, really cared.

“Ebony is…” Her voice trailed off as she searched for the right word. “Blinding. That’s how I can describe her. She is a million watts of energy and love, and I love her more than I love any other human on the face of